Freedom limited. The right to freedom of expression in the Russian Federation



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Journalists under attack

The investigation into the murder of Anna Politkovskaya


The murder of human rights journalist Anna Politkovskaya in October 2006 sent shockwaves through the journalistic and human rights communities. Amnesty International believes that in all likelihood she was murdered because of her investigative journalistic work, in particular on abuses in the Chechen Republic.
Anna Politkovskaya knew that she was under threat. There had been several previous attacks on her, including when she tried to travel to the town of Beslan in North Ossetia, where in September 2004 more than 1,000 children, parents and teachers had been taken hostage. She fell ill on the flight to Rostov-on-Don, en route to Beslan, and had to receive emergency care in hospital. She was told that doctors suspected she might have been poisoned. The doctors could not provide an official explanation for her sudden ill-health. Reportedly, she continued to suffer physically from the effects of this incident to her health.
In June that year, she had interviewed the then Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov. She stated afterwards that he threatened that her life might be in danger if she continued her reporting about the situation in Chechnya.
After her murder in Moscow on 7 October 2006, the Prosecutor General took the lead in the investigation as an especially important case. In August 2007 the Office of the Prosecutor General informed the media about the detention of a number of suspects in the murder. In October 2007, around the anniversary of her murder, it was announced that charges had been brought against nine of the detainees. No further information had been published by early 2008.

The death of journalist Ivan Safronov


When investigative journalist Ivan Safronov was found dead outside the apartment building where he was living, on 2 March 2007, the prosecution initially concluded it was suicide. However, neither his colleagues nor his family were satisfied with this explanation and eventually an investigation into the crime of driving someone to suicide under Article 110 of the Criminal Code was initiated. On 12 September 2007, the Moscow prosecutor’s office closed the case, claiming that all evidence pointed to suicide. Colleagues and activists from NGOs working to protect press freedom were not satisfied with the investigation and claimed it had failed to question people in government authorities relating to the journalist’s investigation. Ivan Safronov had been writing about arms deals for the Russian daily Kommersant; most recently he had investigated a large arms deal between Russia and Syria.

Restrictions on freedom of expression of the media


A number of Russian and international organizations working for the protection of human rights and press freedom have repeatedly stated in recent years that there is less and less media freedom in the Russian Federation. The space for independent journalism has become smaller, as different laws have put restrictions on journalists, which may violate their right to conduct their professional work and may constitute in some cases a violation of the right to freedom of expression.

There have been numerous investigations opened against journalists during the last year regarding allegations that they had committed a crime, such as inciting hatred or enmity or for libel and slander of officials. In the majority of these cases the investigation has not led to the opening of a criminal case. However, the frequent threat of criminal responsibility may have a chilling effect on the media. Amnesty International recognizes the obligation of the authorities to protect citizens against hatred and the discrimination, hostility and violence it engenders. However, states also have an obligation to protect the right to freedom of expression and laws which restrict this right should not be used to curtail dissenting views or independent media.

Changes to the law on combating extremist activities, for example, have affected the media in Russia. The radio station Ekho Moskvy was repeatedly asked to provide transcripts of their programmes to the prosecutor’s office in relation to preliminary investigations into allegations that they had aired extremists’ views. This was the case following a programme with Eduard Limonov, leader of the now banned National Bolshevist Party. The interview was conducted around the time when the ban of his organization had not yet fully come into force. This request also concerned interviews with opposition politician Garry Kasparov. While the requests to provide such information did not lead to any further action against the radio station, journalists working for Ekho Moskvy told Amnesty International they considered that the way in which the prosecutor’s office had officially demanded the transcripts had been done in order to intimidate the station since the text of all programmes is accessible on the internet.

Freedom of assembly

During 2006 and 2007, Russian police, including the special police units (OMON), have repeatedly used force to disperse peaceful demonstrations, rallies, pickets and meetings. Amnesty International is concerned that on several occasions the use of force appears to have been unprovoked or excessive, and scores of people have been beaten up and arbitrarily detained. Many participants in these events have later been sentenced for violations of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation in proceedings that appear to fall short of international standards on the right to a fair trial. Such occurrences have been mainly, but not only, noted during so-called Marches of Dissenters, held in several Russian cities, including St Petersburg, Nizhnii Novgorod and Moscow, where opposition groups and civil society activists have been prevented from expressing dissenting opinions at peaceful meetings and demonstrations. On several occasions the authorities have declared these marches banned or “unsanctioned”. They have also used questionable methods to stop people from attending such meetings, including taking people off trains or detaining them and preventing them from participating in the demonstrations.

Amnesty International recognizes the responsibility of law enforcers to police public meetings and rallies, which includes the protection of the rights and the security of both participants and those who may be affected by the meeting. However, it should be made clear in orders given to law enforcement officials on the ground that their task is to enable the right to peaceful assembly and not to obstruct it. The task of the police and law enforcement officials on occasions such as demonstrations and pickets is to curb the possible spread of violence by proportionate means. Force should be used only when it is absolutely necessary, in line with the protection of public order, national security or in order to prevent a crime. If the authorities consider it to be necessary to disperse a crowd, other, non-violent means should be used first.

The law on the right to freedom of assembly

Amnesty International is concerned that some of the measures taken by the authorities in relation to demonstrations and meetings appear to have been in violation of Russian and international law, which protect the right to freedom of assembly. These include Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 11 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), both of which Russia has ratified. Article 11 of the ECHR states:


“Freedom of assembly and association:

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.


2. No restrictions shall be placed on the exercise of these rights other than such as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. This article shall not prevent the imposition of lawful restrictions on the exercise of these rights by members of the armed forces, of the police or of the administration of the State.”
In connection with Article 1 of the ECHR, which puts an obligation on member states of the Council of Europe to “secure to everyone under its jurisdiction the rights and freedoms” of the ECHR, the duty to protect the right to freedom of assembly puts positive obligations on states beyond simply not interfering in public meetings, demonstrations, pickets and so on. The state has to establish circumstances in which this right can be fully enjoyed.32
In line with these international obligations, Russia has included the protection of the right to freedom of assembly in its constitution and in national law.
Article 31 of the Russian Constitution states:
“Citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to assemble peacefully, without weapons, hold rallies, meetings and demonstrations, marches and pickets.”
The constitutional right to freedom of assembly is further governed by the Law of the Russian Federation on rallies, meetings, demonstrations, processions and pickets (Law on Public Meetings) and other laws such as the Criminal and the Administrative Codes of the Russian Federation. According to the Law on Public Meetings, organizers of any event which falls under the definition of the law (except for pickets held by a single person) must notify the relevant authorities in writing, not more than 15 days and not less than 10 days prior to the planned event about their intentions (Article 7, part 1). The notification must contain information about the aim, the format of the meeting (rally or picket, for example), the place or route, the date, the planned time of the beginning and end of the event, the expected number of participants and a plan of how public order and security will be safeguarded (Article 7, part 3). If it appears that the aims of the planned meeting or its format may violate the Russian Constitution or Russian law, the authorities have to inform the organizers and warn them in writing that they may face legal consequences for any violations of the law that may occur (Article 12, part 2). Failure to comply with the provisions set out in the Law on Public Meetings is considered to be a violation of the Administrative Code.

Under the Criminal Code, an official who unlawfully prevents or hinders the carrying out of a rally, meeting, demonstration, procession or picket can be sentenced to up to three years’ imprisonment.


During recent demonstrations the police are reported to have accused demonstrators of participating in “unsanctioned” meetings. However, as the Ombudsman for Human Rights of the Russian Federation pointed out in his report, “On the observance of the constitutional right to peaceful assembly in the Russian Federation”,33 the law does not refer to sanctioned or unsanctioned meetings, nor does the Administrative Code use these terms.
Instead, the Law on Public Meetings lists the duties of the organizers of public meetings as well as those of the authorities when the latter have received notification of a planned public meeting. The authorities are obliged to confirm receipt of the notification and, if deemed necessary, suggest changes to the location or timing of the meeting as well as request amendments to those parts of the notification that are not in line with the law or which may lead to violations of the law.

Gay Pride parade


Amnesty International is concerned that the Moscow authorities have unlawfully banned the right of activists to hold a Gay Pride parade on two consecutive years, and thereby failed to protect the rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
In February 2006, when gay rights activists announced their intention to hold a gay rights festival in Moscow, including a Gay Pride parade on 27 May that year, the authorities announced they would not allow such an event to go ahead. According to the news agency Interfax, a spokesperson for Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said on 16 February 2006: “The Moscow government is not even going to consider allowing a gay parade.” He also stated that plans for the Gay Pride parade “have evoked outrage in society, in particular, among religious leaders.” He reportedly added that “Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov was determined that the city government would not allow a gay parade in any form, open or disguised, and any attempts to organize an unsanctioned action would be resolutely quashed.”
On 15 May 2006, organizers of the march officially informed the Moscow authorities of their intention to hold a Gay Pride march with 2,000 participants through central Moscow. In violation of Russian law, the Moscow authorities suggested neither a different time nor place for the demonstration. Instead, on 18 May, the authorities issued an official response, stating that they “did not agree” with the planned march, citing the number of letters they had received from the general public objecting to the march, and citing security concerns should the march go ahead. The organizers appealed against this decision at Tverskoi district court; the court upheld the authorities’ decision on 26 May. On 27 May the organizers announced that they had decided not to go ahead with a full-scale march. Instead they invited individuals to come and lay flowers at the tomb of the unknown solider near the Kremlin in Moscow and later to participate in an authorized demonstration organized by another group near the Moscow City Hall. However, at both venues lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists were met by counter-protestors shouting homophobic abuse and in some cases violently attacking the demonstrators. A number of LGBT activists, including German parliamentarian Volker Beck, as well as some journalists, were injured by counter-demonstrators. The police, including officers from the OMON special police unit, reportedly failed to differentiate between peaceful and violent protestors, and detained individuals in a rough manner.
At the same time the organizers of a gay pride festival and the Gay Pride parade made a legal complaint against the authorities’ refusal to allow the May 2006 parade to go ahead. In June 2007 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation confirmed its decision that the Moscow authorities had the right to ban the parade for security reasons. They cited the Russian Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, claiming that this allows for restrictions to the right of freedom of assembly “in the interest of national security or public safety”.34 Just a few weeks earlier, the European Court of Human Rights found, in a case on a gay rights campaign in Poland, that the State’s obligation to protect and to enable the right to freedom of assembly “is of particular importance for persons holding unpopular views or belonging to minorities, because they are more vulnerable to victimisation.”35
The European Court, in considering the circumstances surrounding the gay rights campaign in Poland, found that, even where the initially banned meetings had taken place, “the assemblies were held without a presumption of legality, such a presumption constituting a vital aspect of effective and unhindered exercise of the freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. The Court observes that the refusals to give authorization could have had a chilling effect on the applicants and other participants in the assemblies. It could also have discouraged other persons from participating in the assemblies on the ground that they did not have official authorization and that, therefore, no official protection against possible hostile counter demonstrators would be ensured by the authorities.”36
In mid-May 2007 the Moscow authorities banned a gay parade for a second time. On 27 May activists, including parliamentarians from different countries, attempted to hand a petition to Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, asking him to respect and protect the rights of sexual minorities. Again, the group was attacked by anti-gay rights activists, who beat them and threw eggs and tomatoes at them. The police detained several of the attackers and also briefly detained gay rights activists, including Volker Beck and Italian Member of the European Parliament, Marco Cappato. The Russian organizer of the event, Nikolai Alekseev, was charged with violation of the law on public meetings. In June 2007 he and some 25 other activists held a picket outside the Delegation of the European Commission in Moscow, calling on the European Union to deny Mayor Luzhkov a visa. Again, several of the activists were detained briefly, allegedly for violating the law on public meetings. Nikolai Alekseev told Amnesty International that he had two letters from the authorities, apparently signed by the same person, one confirming that the picket could go ahead, one – which was received later – denying the right to hold such a picket at the intended place.

Marches of Dissenters


Police repression in relation to the right to freedom of assembly has recently been most evident during the Marches of Dissenters.
A coalition of opposition groups, The Other Russia, organized several demonstrations known as Marches of Dissenters in different Russian cities in 2006 and 2007 in advance of elections or to coincide with international high-level meetings in Russia. Such Marches of Dissenters were held in Moscow, St Petersburg, Samara and Nizhnii Novgorod, among other places. Some were “sanctioned” by the authorities; others, for example in Nizhnii Novgorod, were not.
Amnesty International is concerned that during some of these marches and the surrounding events, people were denied the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. In addition, scores of people were beaten up and arbitrarily detained by riot police, in violation of international human rights standards on the use of force and on detention.
Organizers of the March of Dissenters in Moscow on 14 April 2007 had submitted their plan to hold a meeting in Moscow’s Pushkin Square, one of the capital’s main squares, which is often used for public demonstrations. The authorities informed the organizers that a pro-government organization had already submitted an application to hold a meeting on that day in Pushkin Square. Instead, the authorities sanctioned a meeting on Turgenev Square, which is about 2km to the east of Pushkin Square. The organizers of the March of Dissenters considered the authorities’ objections to be insufficient in terms of the requirements of the law and decided to attempt to meet at Pushkin Square.
The day before the meeting, on 13 April, the head of the Moscow Police Department, Vladimir Pronin, announced that participants in the different public meetings would be treated “politely and civilly” by law enforcement officials, who would – in line with the law – strictly suppress any provocation by the participants.37 On the day, though, the square was heavily guarded by police, so opposition demonstrators and passers-by were unable to reach it. The head of the opposition group United Civil Front38, Garry Kasparov, and human rights defender Stanislav Dmitrievskii were detained before they could reach Pushkin Square. Stanislav Dmitrievskii had been distributing the Russian Constitution when he was detained. He was released after five hours without charge. Garry Kasparov was also released on the same day and fined for public order offences.
OMON units also attempted to stop demonstrators from walking from the area around Pushkin Square to Turgenev Square. It was reported that the OMON punched and kicked demonstrators and journalists, and beat them with batons. A doctor at a hospital close to the meeting place in Moscow told Amnesty International on the evening of 14 April that more than 50 people had come for treatment that day because of injuries received during the violent break-up of the meeting.
Several of the participants from the Moscow March of Dissenters on 14 April travelled overnight to St Petersburg to participate in the meeting there. According to Marina Litvinovich, a political advisor to Garry Kasparov, they were stopped at a train station in St Petersburg, their passports were taken away and they were held at a police station for more than three hours, preventing them from participating in the meeting.
Participants in the St Petersburg meeting as well as journalists told Amnesty International that the police detained and beat up a large number of people who were about to leave the “sanctioned” meeting. The police alleged that these people had attempted to march towards the Smolny, the seat of the administration of St Petersburg. However, Amnesty International was informed that the police started beating and detaining people indiscriminately right after the meeting ended. In any event, the stated reason by the police for their actions would not justify excessive use of force.
Those who were detained in Moscow or St Petersburg claimed that in those cases where a record of the detention was made, the time of the events was given incorrectly or the names of the police officers who had carried out the detention were illegible. According to international standards, such as the UN Body of Principles for the protection of all persons under any form of detention or imprisonment, when arresting a person the law enforcement officials should record the date and time of the arrest as well as the identity of the officials concerned in the arrest. During the trials that followed the marches, police officers, who had detained demonstrators, were not present, and only in a few cases were they called to a second hearing once the demonstrators and their lawyers had complained. Most of the accused were denied the opportunity to question the police officers who had detained them.
According to St Petersburg human rights lawyer, Yuri Shmidt, several of the people who were taken to court in St Petersburg after the March of Dissenters in April 2007 were not given the right to be represented by a lawyer during trials by justices of the peace, in which they were sentenced to administrative fines for acts of minor hooliganism. According to Yuri Shmidt the accused were not even allowed to speak for themselves.

Possibly as a result of worldwide as well as internal criticism39 about the actions of the police and OMON, the marches that took place in subsequent months in 2007 were policed with less violence or none at all. While a spokesperson for President Putin, immediately after the April 2007 marches, admitted that the police action had been disproportionate, the subsequent investigations by the Moscow prosecutor’s office failed to “identify any infringements of the law in the activities of police officers”40 when policing the marches. Amnesty International is concerned that the response of the Russian law enforcement bodies to the marches reflects a view by the authorities which does not consider freedom of assembly a basic right but a right which they may grant or withdraw. Such a view would contravene Russia’s international obligations and it is the duty of the state to ensure that law enforcement officials carry out their functions in accordance with international and domestic law, including by training police in human rights standards.




Restrictions on monitoring public meetings

Furthermore, Amnesty International is concerned about the harassment of human rights activists attempting to monitor public meetings, including through arbitrary detention and attempts to prevent individuals from arriving at the location of a planned demonstration by opposition groups. Several people, including a representative from Human Rights Watch (HRW), who had attempted to monitor a March of Dissenters in mid-May 2007, were prevented from flying to Samara in the Volga Federal District, where opposition parties had organized a protest march to coincide with the EU-Russia summit there. Under the pretext of checking the validity of their tickets, several people were detained at the airport until the flight to Samara had left. Others who had planned either to monitor or participate in the march, were taken off the train to Samara and held until it was too late to get there.



Detention and ill-treatment of journalists

On several occasions during demonstrations and rallies, police and OMON officials have ill-treated and detained journalists who were performing their professional function of observing and reporting.


During the March of Dissenters in Moscow in April 2007, a Japanese journalist was beaten up by police when he tried to film the events. He had to undergo medical treatment. Staff members of the German Television station ZDF, who filmed the events in Moscow, were detained on Turgenev Square despite showing their accreditation as members of the press. An Amnesty International representative witnessed how police officers laughed at the journalists when they showed their press cards, ridiculing them for demanding to have their right to monitor the situation respected. According to ZDF, their staff members were released after an hour. The Moscow local authority is reported to have made a pledge after the marches in April 2007 to improve the way the police handle the press during such events.
In policing public events, the law enforcement officials should distinguish between demonstrators and journalists covering events such as public meetings. While this may not always be possible, especially in situations of heightened tension, identifying oneself with a press card should be sufficient to differentiate oneself from participants of the demonstrations and should lead the police to abstain from detaining or otherwise interfering with the journalists’ right to monitor a demonstration or rally, irrespective of whether it is considered to be sanctioned.
In response to a number of instances of interference with the work of journalists during political demonstrations in Member States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), in June 2007 the OSCE representative on freedom of the media issued a report and recommendations on “handling media during political demonstrations”. He found that “safe reporting on demonstrations is demanded not only by freedom of the media and free flow of information principles: uninhibited reporting on demonstrations is as much a part of the right to free assembly as the demonstrations are themselves the exercise of the right to free speech.” 41

The right to hold individual pickets


According to Russian law on public meetings, only pickets held by a single person are permitted without notifying the authorities. However, Amnesty International received information about cases in which this provision was also not applied.
In June 2006, human rights defender Vladimir Shaklein held such a picket outside the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk Region) in support of imprisoned lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin42 and in protest against human rights violations in penal institutions in Sverdlovsk Region. Vladimir Shaklein was charged and found guilty of violations of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation for trespassing on the territory of the court building, despite him reportedly being some 25 - 30 metres away from the building, standing behind an iron chain, which he had believed to be the boundary of the court’s territory. The decision of the court has been confirmed by the regional court as well as by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The Ombudsman for Human Rights of the Russian Federation has asked the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation to establish whether this court decision does or does not violate Russian land law, which defines the boundaries of a territory occupied by a building as the corners of the building.43
In a similar incident, a human rights activist in the city of Chita, Eastern Siberia, who had been charged with violations of the law on public meetings after protesting on her own against violations of the human rights of former head of the Yukos company, Mikhail Khodorkovskii, was acquitted by a justice of the peace in Chita in May 2007.

Use of the law to attempt to impede private meetings

On 23 January 2007 members of the human rights organization FRODO and the Committee for Human Rights in Novorossiisk, Krasnodar Region, held a meeting with two foreign visitors in a public art school, where the group was discussing a project on tolerance among youth. The meeting was broken up by a group of police officers, staff from the Federal Migration Service and the Federal Security Service. Human rights defenders Vadim and Tamara Karastelev, who had not informed the authorities about this meeting, were accused of holding an unsanctioned meeting and were charged with violations of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code (“Violations of the regulations for organizing and holding meetings, demonstrations and vigils”) and ordered to pay a fine. After several reviews of the case, a court decided in September 2007 that the two had not broken the law and that there had been no obligation to inform the authorities about this meeting. Vadim and Tamara Karastelev then filed a civil complaint for moral and material damages against the authorities. This complaint was dismissed in December 2007.



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